Intoxicating Magic (21 page)

The frustration drained from his face as his expression went soft with emotion. “Some things are.” He took my hand and placed it over his heart. “What I feel for you is real and always has been. That won’t change.”

Tears stung my eyes again, but I didn’t let them fall. Instead, I leaned over and pressed my lips to his, wordlessly showing him that I was his once and for all. All I needed to do was tell David. I’d do it tonight. Right after I got some answers.

***

Tal was two blocks from Allcot’s mansion when my phone buzzed with an incoming text.

Phoebe:
Need you now. Backstreet Tavern.

“Turn around,” I told Talisen.

He did what I asked without comment.

I texted back.
Be there in ten.

Phoebe:
Hurry. Vampires were spotted. Need your senses.

Me:
Be there in five.

“Step on it,” I told Tal.

Tal glanced at me but sped up, ignoring the posted speed limit.

“Phoebe’s on a job and needs backup.”

“No problem.”

Link jumped up, standing on all fours. I lifted him and put him in the back seat just in case he shifted right there in the car. The Void’s neutralizer would’ve worn off by now. Link bounced back faster than fae and witches did. Tal was probably still under the influence. That worried me a little, but there was nothing to do about it.

I directed Tal until he pulled up in front of the uptown college bar. Link and I scrambled out, Link in wolf form. “Meet us inside?” I said to Tal.

He nodded. “Be careful.”

“Always.” I slammed the door shut and cast the Jeep a fleeting glance as Tal darted around the corner looking for parking. A tingle of pleasure warmed me with the knowledge that he trusted me to handle myself. There was no way in hell David would’ve let me go anywhere near the club without him had we been together. Maybe that had been the problem from the start. We’d never been on equal footing.

A group of coeds, dressed in skintight camisoles, barely there skirts, and heels so high their ankles wobbled, stumbled out of the front door. They each held Styrofoam cups, no doubt full of daiquiris, clutched in their hands.

It was the perfect hunting ground for hungry vamps. I stifled a shudder and slipped into the open-air bar. The only problem was I didn’t sense any vamps anywhere. Was I even in the right place? I whipped my phone out and checked Phoebe’s message. Yeah. Right place. I tapped out a quick text.

Me:
I’m here. Where are you?

Phoebe:
At the bar. All the way to the right.

I glanced up, searching, but the crowd was too thick. “Let’s go, Link.”

He was on full alert, his scruff raised on the back of his neck. He sensed something, but he hadn’t spotted it yet. I stayed close to his hindquarters and followed him. The crowd parted easily for us. Faeries weren’t exactly a dime a dozen in New Orleans. Neither were wolves. It was a good thing we weren’t trying to be inconspicuous.

If I hadn’t seen Phoebe in a hundred different disguises over the years, I might not have recognized her. But there she was, leaning over the bar and wearing a dirty-blond wig, skintight black leggings, knee-high boots, and a purple sequined tank top. Not exactly a wallflower, but she blended well enough with the crowd. And her boots had thick heels, perfect for kicking ass.

I glided up to the bar and ordered an Abita Amber.

“Beer?” Phoebe asked by way of greeting.

“It’s been a long-ass day. Cut me some slack.”

The bartender pulled the tap, filling a plastic cup until the head ran over.

“Feel anything?” she asked as she leaned against the bar, scanning the crowd.

“Nope.” I sipped at the beer, reveling in the crisp freshness. “Dang, that’s good.”

She stared at me. “I can’t believe you’re drinking right now.”

I supposed it wasn’t the best decision. But holy crow, I needed it after the day I’d had. Link paced in front of us, creating a barrier between us and the crowd.

“Link, sit!” Phoebe commanded.

He immediately dropped his rear and cocked his head, listening.

I set my beer down, watching him. “He senses something.”

Phoebe nodded. “But you don’t?”

I shook my head, catching sight of Tal as he walked into the bar. His gaze landed on me instantly. It was as if he sensed where I was. My insides turned to jelly just looking at him.

Phoebe let out a low whistle. “Golden boy is back, I see.”

“Yeah.” The word came out sounding shy.

She laughed. “Good. I assume that means Laveaux is kicked to the curb?”

I gave her a dirty look.

“Well? You can’t date both of them, and judging by the look on both your faces, elf boy is in and vamp boy is way out.”

I rolled my eyes. “Do you have to be so flippant about it?”

“Ha! I knew it. Finally.” She wiggled her fingers at Tal. “Hey tall, blond, and sexy.”

“Phoebs,” he said with a nod and wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

It felt so odd to be hanging out in a bar with my two most favorite people as if Tal weren’t indentured to Allcot and Phoebe and I weren’t on a vampire hunt. But we were, and even though all of us acted as if we didn’t have a care in the world, it was just that, an act. Despite my wings and the wolf at our feet, the crowd had ceased paying attention to us. We were just a few more patrons out for a good time. How wrong they were.

Tal’s phone buzzed. He frowned as he read the message.

“What is it?” I asked, unease inching up my spine.

“Our cure didn’t work. Harrison and the others are getting weak again and their wounds aren’t healing. The only consolation is they haven’t slipped back into a coma… yet.”

“How is that possible?” Frustration hit me hard. I’d known we still had to work on healing their wounds, but damn. I hadn’t expected them to relapse so soon. “We just woke them up a few hours ago.”

“It’s the poison. We have to find an antidote as soon as possible. After we’re done here, I’ll need to consult some healer texts.” His lips thinned into a tight line. “Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

I matched his frown. Research could take days. The guards didn’t appear to have that long. I turned to Phoebe, anxious to help her catch her vamp so we could leave. “How long’s it been since you last saw the vamp?”

“Thirty, forty minutes. And it wasn’t just one. It was two. A male and a female. They were over there.” She pointed to the other side of the bar’s courtyard. “But by the time I got through the crowd, they’d terrorized one coed and then disappeared.”

“Did you see anyone leave?” I was almost positive at least one of them was still around. Link was entirely too agitated.

“Not with either one of them.” She frowned. “I just can’t figure out where they went.” Her frustration was boiling over. Nothing pissed her off more than when an innocent was attacked. “That was the third time I’d spotted them, too. I don’t know where they’re going, but they haven’t left. I’m sure of it. Being out in the open isn’t helping. It’s too easy for them to disappear into a neighboring building and reappear somewhere else.”

Yeah, that would be a problem. I eyed the rooftops of the three buildings surrounding the bar and courtyard. They were each three stories high, but that was nothing for a vamp. They could leap to any one of the terraces and get into just about any apartment. I shuddered, imagining an empty apartment with drained humans. “What about the coed? Where is she?”

Phoebe tilted her head toward a girl sitting at a picnic table in what appeared to be an employee area a few yards behind the bar. She’d been the one Phoebe had been talking to when I’d walked in.

“I’ll be right back.” Leaving Tal and Phoebe, I slipped behind the bar and sat next to the girl. She was staring into a plastic cup of water. “Hey. You doing better?”

Her eyes widened as she took in my wings. “You’re fae.”

I smiled. Way to state the obvious. “Nice to meet you.”

She flushed and held out her hand. “Hi. I’m Cameron.”

“Hi, Cameron. I’m Willow.” I shook her hand, pleased when her grip tightened around mine. Just my talking to her seemed to be giving her some confidence back. “Want to tell me what happened with the vamps?”

Her eyes narrowed. “They were trying to convince me to go back to their house for an evening of fun. Like they were swingers or something.” She visibly shivered. “Only I’ve seen them before and I know a few girls who’ve gone home with them in the past.”

“And?”

“Let’s just say those girls don’t go clubbing anymore.”

My blood pressure skyrocketed. That could mean anything from a nonconsensual feeding to sexual assault. I glanced at Phoebs and Tal. They both had their backs to us as they continued to scan the bar, searching for the rogue vampires.

“And what did they say when you turned them down?” I asked her.

She clamped her lips together and shook her head.

Damn. She was done opening up to me. “Well,” I said carefully. “See my friends over there? You’ve already met the blonde.” I pointed to Phoebe. “We’re not leaving until we track them down. So any info you have on them would be most helpful.”

Her expression turned wary and then skeptical as she eyed me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like someone they might eat for breakfast.”

I laughed at that. She wasn’t wrong. No one ever pegged me as a vamp hunter. I definitely didn’t look the part. Long auburn hair, hands better suited for baking than fighting, and I was dressed in a long, flowing skirt and ballet flats. I looked every bit the pacifist I longed to be. It just wasn’t in my cards. “Good luck to them,” I said and winked. “They aren’t likely to get past my wolf, but if they do, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

She glanced at Link, who was still pacing in front of Phoebe, and her skeptical expression turned into a small smile. “That’s some nice protection right there.”

“You can say that again.” I grinned and then touched her hand lightly. “If you have any other information you want to share, I’ll be right over there.” I pointed once again to the place where Phoebe and Tal were talking, heads bent.

She nodded.

I gave her one last long look before I thanked her for her time and headed back in the direction of my friends.

“Willow?” she called.

I spun. “Yes?”

“I don’t think your wolf is going to help you now.”

“Wh—”

Someone slammed into me from behind. I stumbled forward, certain I was headed to the floor face first. But then a line of fire grasped me around the neck and jerked me back up and onto my feet. My entire back screamed in protest as a thousand pinpricks of pain consumed me to the point my vision blurred.

Vampire!

The word flashed in my mind like a neon light. Where had he come from? More importantly, why hadn’t I felt him? Just like I hadn’t felt Victoria. Was my gift broken? A vampire shouldn’t have been able to sneak up on me like that. Not unless I’d turned him into a daywalker, but then their touch couldn’t hurt me.

I bucked, kicking my feet out, trying my damnedest to break free, but it was useless. The vamp had a viselike grip on me and my energy was draining at a rapid rate.
Phoebe! Tal!
I tried to call to them, but I couldn’t get enough air to get the words out.

Blackness danced at the edge of my vision. Heat was consuming every inch of me. And the last thing I saw before I felt the whoosh of air around us was the coed’s face sneering up at me as the vampire leaped, taking me with him through one of the nearby open windows.

Chapter 21

“Get in!” The vampire kicked me in the back, forcing me into a souped-up electric-blue car with giant wheels.

I gasped for breath and curled into a ball, my body shaking uncontrollably. The trauma from being touched by the vampire was too much, and my muscles twitched from his assault. Too late—I clutched at the door handle, but the car was already in motion, speeding down the streets of New Orleans.

“Where are you taking me?” I forced out between shallow gasps of air.

A woman vampire I’d never seen before turned around in the front seat and gazed at me intently. I was lying on my side, my head bouncing against the vinyl seat.

“You don’t look like him,” she said, her brows pinched in concentration.

“Who?” I squeezed my eyes shut and winced as we flew over a river of potholes.

“Shut up, Talia,” the driver barked.

My eyes popped open and I watched Talia hiss at him. He ignored her displeasure. Her deep blue eyes flashed with irritation as she tied her long bronze hair up into a haphazard bun. “Speak to me that way again, and I’ll rip your little toy’s throat out before you have your way with her.”

Your little toy?
Was that bitch talking about me? Now that I wasn’t blindsided, we’d see how far she got. I’d drain her life even if it killed me before I’d let either of them lay a hand on me again.

He whipped his hand out and caught her around the throat in one quick movement. “Don’t test me.” The words came out low and controlled, but the way his muscles were flexing, he was one step away from breaking her neck. Not that it would kill her. But it would hurt like a son of a bitch.